AMC uses Breaking Bad as a pawn in fight with Dish

Jaclyn is an Idaho native who currently lives in Milwaukee. Having worked in radio, TV and as a newspaper reporter, she is an avid pop culture and news junkie. She also has a passion for photography and cooking (but is still learning to ...

Dish customers will be able to stream premiere

It could be argued that the July 15 season premiere of Breaking Bad is one of the most anticipated premieres of the year.

So when negotiations between Dish and AMC broke down, Dish customers found out they would not have access to AMC shows any more.

AMC is taking this opportunity to try to lure Breaking Bad fans away from the satellite service. They have announced that any Dish customer will be able to stream the season premiere of Breaking Bad on July 15.

The deal is only for the premiere, but it may be all they need to remind fans that they want to watch the new season of the show.

“Every cable, phone and satellite company other than Dish carries AMC,” the network said, according to Deadline.com. “AMC wants its loyal Dish viewers to experience the excitement of the Breaking Bad premiere at the same time as their friends and neighbors, and we want to give Dish customers an extra week to switch providers so they can enjoy the rest of the season.”

The contract dispute led to Dish customers losing access to channels like AMC, IFC and WE, when the contract expired at the end of June.

June 29, Dish even continued attacking the channels, saying it was going to add in their place “stronger movie and entertainment content.”

The dispute is only one in what is becoming a regular problem for cable and satellite subscribers. Yesterday, DirecTV customers lost access to their Viacom channels, including Comedy Central, MTV, BET and Nickelodeon.

However, Viacom seems to be taking the opposite approach.

“The networks company says that it 'temporarily slimmed down' its online showings of popular shows including Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants,” said Deadline.

Negotiations are still ongoing in that dispute, but for now, DirecTV customers have no access to their Viacom channels.

Starting tomorrow afternoon, Dish customers can begin registering on the AMC website for access to the season premiere of Breaking Bad.